It appears Sony was awake after all.  They have completely revised their line of Readers, giving WiFi to their top of the line model, dumping their old overlay screens that provided touch control but were washed-out in contrast.  Replacing the overlay is the use of infrared scans to determine where your fingers are on the screen and what they are doing.  This is a major improvement.

The picture below shows the larger Daily Edition on the left, the Kindle 3 in the middle and the Pocket Edition on the right.

Also, Sony has adopted the new Pearl E-Ink technology which makes for more contrast.  The two most popular models, the Touch Edition and the Pocket Edition have slimmed down.  The Pocket Edition has kept its five inch screen, but it now has 16-level gray scale instead of the older 8-scale.

All are good moves by Sony.  They certainly plan on staying in the game.

On the down side, all the new readers come with higher prices.  The Pocket Edition jumps from $149 to $179 and is without expanded memory options or WiFi.  The Touch Edition is $229 and without WiFi, but with expanded memory options.  The Daily Edition is not yet available for delivery.

For a more detailed review, follow this link.

by Ray Hendon

The review of four of the most popular eReaders by Switchedon is one of the best I have seen in maintaining an objective attitude throughout the evaluations.   Their conclusions seem reasonable to me. Follow this link to read the full review.

The reviewer ranks them: Kindle 3, with Sony and Nook more or less tied (although he did not rank them).  Kobo brings up the rear, especially at $129.  Kobo is not going to sell at that price to anyone who does the least bit of homework.  Perhaps in a captive environment like Barnes and Noble Stores, some will buy it at that price.  They are prime candidates for buyers remorse down the road.

I thought the model of Sony Reader they evaluated was not the best choice.  They should have tested the Touch Edition since it is closer to the specs of the Nook and Kindle.  Rather, they chose the PRS-900 which has a huge 7.1” screen, is thick, out of date, and not really comparable to the other units.

Nevertheless, the conclusion about the screen contrast being poor has been mentioned by virtually every reviewer of Sony Readers.  It appears to me that the large, 7+ inch E-Ink screens are headed for extinction before too many cycles of the seasons are counted.  They are too clumsy, too heavy and inconvenient to hold for long periods, and they are too expensive.  They have had their day in the sun.